JVC TD-W354BK Dual Cassette Deck

Rating:
Summary: Very good product for the money
Review: I bought this model after owning an older receiver by JVC. It is loaded with features; high speed dub, continuous play, auto stop, auto reverse, Dolby B and C, and my favorite, the JVC receiver remote works this as well, even though it is years older. I am very pleased with the quality of JVC products. I own the receiver, cassette deck, and 5 disc carousel. They are all very reliable, as they have never needed even the smallest repair. Even long after the warranty ran out, they work perfectly.

Sound quality is very good on this deck. I have cassette tapes that hiss or drag in lesser quality decks, but will play beautifully in this. I am impressed with the quality of cassettes recorded with this deck as well. I record cd's onto cassette for use in the car, so this gets a real workout. All the tapes recorded sound as good as the ones that come pre-recorded.

I am also pleased with the controls on this. Everything is easy to read and operate. No confusing buttons or knobs. Even the back of the deck where you hook up the wires is self explanatory. They are marked so that you never have to open the owners manual.

In overview, this is the best cassette deck I've owned yet. I've owned Teac, Pioneer and Sony, and from now on I will stick with JVC products. I can't say enough about this deck. It is reliable, good sounding, inexpensive, and easy to operate. This is the best value out there.

Rating:
Summary: Good For Three Months...
Review: I too was very impressed with this cassette deck from JVC. Mine cost $250(Can), and I needed the features that this deck had to offer. The sound was very impressive, and once you know what you were doing, the deck was simple to operate. There was even a Mic input (a feature which I thought had all but disappeared from cassette decks). The unit had a nice solid feel to it, and the instructions were easy to follow. Too make a long story short, the unit performed flawlessly for just over three months, then my problems started. (and just as soon as the warranty expired of course).

I noticed that some of my tapes started dragging. I thought it might be a tension problem with my cassettes, but those tapes would play fine on my car deck and my cheap Panasonic boom box downstairs. Turns out the problem was the drive belts had started slipping (as mentioned by another reviewer). I thought OK, I'll take it in to get repaired. Well, that wasn't the only problem with this machine. After sitting in the service centre for two weeks, the tech called me to say that the power supply was shorting out, and he also said I had a defective speed governor (which is somehow connected to the pitch control), and that's what was causing speed and tension problems with my tapes. The cost of repairs? $200. I said forget about it and brought the deck back home. I now have a completely useless component staring at me on my stereo system... For the most part, I've phased out my cassette collection, but I still make recordings every now and then, and still have a few pre-recorded tapes that I haven't been able to find on CD yet. So, I basically spent $250 on a lemon. (my JVC VCR lasted only three months too)

For the record, I used to think of highly of not only JVC, but Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba as well. Not anymore. JVC (like most others), has outsourced most of its suppliers to Mexico, China and Malaysia, which produces absolute junk as far as I'm concerned. Truthfully, if I were the president or CEO of any these companies, I would be ashamed to manufacture, market and sell this garbage. But since ethics aren't part of any business anymore, and the latter is just a quick trip to the bank for the execs, then WHO cares? It's throw-away from the top down and the bottom up with rare exception. I give up. Doesn't ANYONE make quality electronics anymore? Mostly all consumer electronics these days are nothing more than fancy toys that WILL break. It's almost guaranteed. Thank-you so much JVC. You have lost my trust, and I will never again purchase another piece of garbage from your once mighty company.

Rating:
Summary: Big Dissappointment
Review: I was quite impressed with this unit until I tried to play a fourth tape. That's right, got to play three tapes for my 160 bucks.

Apparently the drive belts have started slipping on both wells. Usually starts a couple of minutes into a tape and usually clears up right at the end. In between is barely recognizeable as music. Cleaned the heads, retensioned the tapes on other decks - no go. All the tapes that won't play correctly on the JVC play just fine on two other older, cheaper decks.

Rating:
Summary: Fine audio component
Review: This is a high quality unit at a moderate price. It has a solid feel to it; the controls operate surely and quietly; the tape transport is quiet; the sound quality rivals that of CDs. I cannot distinguish the sound of recordings made with it from that of the original source. Features such as AMS work perfectly. Even now there is need for a fine tape deck; this is one.